elections and political subdivisions interim committee

State lawmakers this week will hear proposals to add an individual right to privacy to the Wyoming Constitution.

The Digital Information Privacy Task Force is made up of lawmakers and Wyoming citizens. Task Force Chairman Senator Chris Rothfuss says the proposed amendment would limit what information Wyoming could compile about its citizens. The goal is to ensure privacy rights aren’t ignored in service of other state interests.

The Wyoming legislature is undergoing a redrawing of legislative districts due to a change in population. One impact will be that sitting Senators Wayne Johnson of Cheyenne and Curt Meier of LaGrange will now be in the same district. Johnson’s term is up next year and Meier would have two years left in his term. However, the legislative committee that is redrawing the districts has decided that the seat should be up for re-election, meaning that Meier’s remaining two years will be voided.

Lawmakers have approved plans to redraw Wyoming's legislative districts, allocating more lawmakers to central and western areas of the state that have gained population while drawing them away from some other places.

The plan approved by the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Interim Committee on Tuesday would extend one state Senate district from Cheyenne north into the southern Goshen County community of LaGrange, home of Republican Sen. Curt Meier.

Meier says he plans to oppose that change when the committee meets in Cheyenne in January.